Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method in which students learn through facilitated problem solving (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). In this method of teaching, students are asked to engage in "self-directed learning (Hmelo-Silver, 2004)" in order to explore possible solutions to an "ill-structured problem (Hmelo-Silver, 2004)." Us as teachers are asked to "facilitate the learning process rather than to provide knowledge (Hmelo-Silver, 2004)." This is where, as a teacher, it gets really tricky to do what we thought we were signing up to do. How do we teach if we are not givers of knowledge? Why did I spend so much money and time learning Mathematics if I am not going to be the giver of that knowledge? How do I "Facilitate Learning and what in the world is an "ill-structured problem?"
I recently heard a story about a mom that helped her kids become well educated in society without being able to read herself. Despite her inability to educate personally her students, she helped ensure that the students were diligent in their studies and that they worked hard to learn all of the material they could.
Here is another story: I coach Tennis, I have learned that the more I say the worst my player plays. I had a young lady that was winning her first match ever. She was a senior in high school and she had never won a match before. She won the first set handily (note: I didn't talk to her the whole set). I then went over to talk to her and all of the sudden the wheels just came off. I tried correcting the issue and I only made her more frustrated. It was amazing. Then, I started to notice the same pattern with several of my players. I started to wonder if this was just the curse of the coach or if there was something to it. I read a book later called "The Inner Game of Tennis." Here I found out that this is actually something that is very common. The author, W. Timothy Gallwey, explains with more detail than I will here, that if you want to get a player to play worse, make them think about what they are doing. Make them think about that last training session, or the detail of the forehand stroke or in essence, why they are adding instead of subtracting or why they have to divide from x instead of subtract three from x.
As teachers I have found we talk too much, and that our students in some ways are almost better off than we give them credit for. This is not to say that we shouldn't have a job or that we don't need to know our subject from top to bottom. However, we can hand the reigns over to the driver a little bit more and allow them the opportunity to make a plan, execute that plan, and evaluate its outcome on their own. As a teacher your best teaching is in the planning of your class. The problems need to be tailored to the class and their interests. Once planned out we as teachers need to step out of the way and help the students with the learning process without telling them how to solve the problem. The information the student needs to learn will come to light as the student works with a group to develop a plan to solve the problem and recognizes the information they are lacking to carry out that plan.
An example of this would be 'October Sky.' The student before losing a rocket and being blamed for a forest fire didn't understand math that well. However, he recognized that in order to prove his innocence he had to track down that rocket he'd lost. So he made a plan, researched the ways in which one could track down a rocket, and carried out that plan. The teenage boys’ interests went from getting noticed by the girls to needing/having to find a rocket and learn the math to do so. Now this is an extraordinary example, (Hence the reason it was a movie) but it is an example none-the-less of a student being given a problem and figuring out how to solve it, even if it meant learning math to get to a solution. This is a pattern we want our students to follow and they cannot unless we structure our classes and our teaching methods in a way that puts the student in the driver’s seat.
So, how do we do this and what exactly are ill-structured problems?
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Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method in which students learn through facilitated problem solving (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). In this method of teaching, students are asked to engage in "self-directed learning (Hmelo-Silver, 2004)" in order to explore possible solutions to an "ill-structured problem (Hmelo-Silver, 2004)." Us as teachers are asked to "facilitate the learning process rather than to provide knowledge (Hmelo-Silver, 2004)." This is where, as a teacher, it gets really tricky to do what we thought we were signing up to do. How do we teach if we are not givers of knowledge? Why did I spend so much money and time learning Mathematics if I am not going to be the giver of that knowledge? How do I "Facilitate Learning and what in the world is an "ill-structured problem?"
I recently heard a story about a mom that helped her kids become well educated in society without being able to read herself. Despite her inability to educate personally her students, she helped ensure that the students were diligent in their studies and that they worked hard to learn all of the material they could.
Here is another story: I coach Tennis, I have learned that the more I say the worst my player plays. I had a young lady that was winning her first match ever. She was a senior in high school and she had never won a match before. She won the first set handily (note: I didn't talk to her the whole set). I then went over to talk to her and all of the sudden the wheels just came off. I tried correcting the issue and I only made her more frustrated. It was amazing. Then, I started to notice the same pattern with several of my players. I started to wonder if this was just the curse of the coach or if there was something to it. I read a book later called "The Inner Game of Tennis." Here I found out that this is actually something that is very common. The author, W. Timothy Gallwey, explains with more detail than I will here, that if you want to get a player to play worse, make them think about what they are doing. Make them think about that last training session, or the detail of the forehand stroke or in essence, why they are adding instead of subtracting or why they have to divide from x instead of subtract three from x.
As teachers I have found we talk too much, and that our students in some ways are almost better off than we give them credit for. This is not to say that we shouldn't have a job or that we don't need to know our subject from top to bottom. However, we can hand the reigns over to the driver a little bit more and allow them the opportunity to make a plan, execute that plan, and evaluate its outcome on their own. As a teacher your best teaching is in the planning of your class. The problems need to be tailored to the class and their interests. Once planned out we as teachers need to step out of the way and help the students with the learning process without telling them how to solve the problem. The information the student needs to learn will come to light as the student works with a group to develop a plan to solve the problem and recognizes the information they are lacking to carry out that plan.
An example of this would be 'October Sky.' The student before losing a rocket and being blamed for a forest fire didn't understand math that well. However, he recognized that in order to prove his innocence he had to track down that rocket he'd lost. So he made a plan, researched the ways in which one could track down a rocket, and carried out that plan. The teenage boys’ interests went from getting noticed by the girls to needing/having to find a rocket and learn the math to do so. Now this is an extraordinary example, (Hence the reason it was a movie) but it is an example none-the-less of a student being given a problem and figuring out how to solve it, even if it meant learning math to get to a solution. This is a pattern we want our students to follow and they cannot unless we structure our classes and our teaching methods in a way that puts the student in the driver’s seat.
So, how do we do this and what exactly are ill-structured problems?